What's trending as the Boilermakers prepare for the final stretch of the non-conference season?

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Carsen Edwards of Purdue reaches to knock the ball out of the hands of Scottie Lindsey of Northwestern in the second half Sunday, December 3, 2017, at Mackey Arena. Purdue defeated Northwestern 74-69.(Photo: John Terhune/Journal & Courier)Buy Photo

Story Highlights

Thursday's game: Valparaiso at No. 21 Purdue, 6:30 p.m., FS1

Purdue has won four straight after Sunday's victory over Northwestern.

Big Ten Conference play resumes with a Jan. 3 home game against Rutgers.

Now comes the next segment. You can look at it either as the five games prior to the start of the resumption of Big Ten Conference play on Jan. 3 or the seven games prior to a road trip to Michigan on Jan. 9.

How are the No. 21 Boilermakers trending as they approach the closing stretch of the calendar year?

STOCK UP

Isaac Haas: The 7-2 senior center always possessed the ability to change the game by drawing fouls. He did so in all three games last week. Even when he only attempted one free throw against Maryland, he racked up team fouls early in the second half that helped Purdue stave off the Terrapins' charge. When Haas shot 54.7 percent from the free throw line as a freshman, it begged the question, what would he do to teams when his percentage improved? He's approaching 80 percent right now and the results speak for themselves.

Ball security: Purdue entered last week turning the ball over a little under 13 times per game. If that stat had held, the Boilermakers almost certainly don't go 3-0 against Louisville, Maryland and Northwestern. Instead, they turned the ball over a total of 27 times in those three games. Point guard P.J. Thompson turned the ball over twice in 99 minutes, though that's his underappreciated default setting at this point. Behind him, however, Carsen Edwards and Nojel Eastern combined for only four turnovers in 101 minutes.

Haarms' arms: Freshman center Matt Haarms ranks third nationally in total blocks, behind only Minnesota center and reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Reggie Lynch and Penn State's Mike Watkins. More impressively he averages 7.4 per 40 minutes. His ability to run the floor makes him an even greater threat, either by getting back on defense to take position or catching up with the fast break started by his swats. Haas is also averaging a career-high 1.3 per game. Now you understand why Northwestern banked so heavily on Dererk Pardon's jump-shot abilities on Sunday.

STOCK DOWN

Rebounds: While he appreciated the compliment, coach Matt Painter didn't agree with Northwestern coach Chris Collins' assertion that the Boilermakers are the Big Ten's most physical team. His chief complaint is that his team simply isn't assertive enough on the boards. Purdue has only outrebounded one of its last six opponents (Arizona). The turnover trend above has helped mitigate the rebounding deficiency. If it ever spikes in the wrong direction, the possession differential could again prove costly.

Extending leads: Purdue led Northwestern by 12 with 9:26 to play Sunday and went into halftime tied. It led Maryland by 14 in the first half but trailed less than two minutes into the second. It led by 10 at the under 16 timeout, seven at the under 8, nine at the under 4 and eight with under a minute to play. The Terrapins still took a shot to tie with 14 seconds left. Clearly, holding leads against good teams is difficult. Purdue was fortunate, however, to stop the bleeding early enough to open 2-0 in the Big Ten.

Transition offense: This category has perhaps been more inconsistent than down. Sunday's game marked the second time in the past five games that Purdue didn't score a single fast-break point. Sometimes those opportunities are limited due to game situations out of a team's control. Two players to keep an eye on here are Carsen Edwards and Eastern. Both have skill sets that could make them dangerous off the steal or leading the break off of rebounds. However, both are still developing their full range of skills at this level.